This article originally appeared in the May 2014 issue of Architectural Digest.

When American John McSwaney and his British-born wife, Christine, bought their apartment in Burley on the Hill, a circa-1700 manor located in the English countryside two hours north of London, they set themselves a simple but formidable goal for the renovations. "We wanted to create something the original owners would have been proud of," declares John.

Those owners were the Finch family, a clan that boasts the earls of Nottingham and Winchilsea. "They were one of the families that dominated the county," John explains. "The house stands near the road from London that everyone traveled, including kings and queens. Winston Churchill may have slept in our bedroom, so to make it American and modern didn’t feel right." It was Daniel Finch, the second Earl of Nottingham, who began constructing the Palladian mansion in the 1690s, possibly serving as his own architect. Approaching from the north, one passes through a splendid cour d’honneur, with long, curving colonnades linking the house to the stables. Arguably more splendid still is the building’s southern view, a wooded deer park bordered in the distance by Rutland Water, a sweeping man-made lake.

Burley stayed in the family until around 1990, when it was sold to a Turkish businessman intent on turning the place into a resort. Part of the estate eventually wound up in the hands of English restoration expert Kit Martin, who converted its buildings into multiple residences, carving six generous apartments out of the main house. Several years later the McSwaneys, who live in Florida but spend three or four months a year in England visiting Christine’s family, happened upon a listing for the property and decided it would be a perfect local base.

The pair acquired an apartment in Burley’s south wing and hired designer Mark Gillette, a specialist in country-house renovations, to make the place both period-appropriate and comfortable. The centerpiece of the four-story residence—and the first area one enters—is the Adam Room, the mansion’s magnificent former dining hall, which the couple uses as a drawing room. Neoclassical columns rise 16 feet to an ornate plasterwork ceiling in the style of 18th-century Scottish architect Robert Adam, giving the room its name.

Gillette’s immediate priority was to rethink the existing color scheme, especially in this focal space: "The decoration was basically white and gray, and the ceiling was gilded. I wanted to impart a sense of Adam and Wedgwood, so I came up with a palette of blues and pinks." The columns were given a faux-porphyry finish, making them "much more architectural and strong," Gillette notes. "With a room of this scale you have to be bold with certain elements." He also laid a new oak floor and dressed it with a custom-woven Aubusson.

A view of Burley on the Hill, in England’s Rutland County, from a gallery along the estate’s cour d’honneur. The circa-1700 manor was divided into multiple residences in the 1990s. Inside, in the building’s south wing, Mark Gillette Interior Design gave entrepreneurs Christine and John McSwaney’s four-story apartment a grand but comfortable feel.

Through a door at the far end of the space, a large 18th-century portrait and a handsome Louis XVI commode come into view. The two fine pieces occupy a landing on the former servants’ staircase, which is now the apartment’s main artery, leading down to the kitchen and a second sitting room and up to the two bedrooms. As Gillette observes, the difficulty of country-house conversions often lies less in making the grand interiors suitable for everyday use than in repurposing the spaces that connect them. Between the second and third levels he has improved on the original renovation by building out a mezzanine to create a home office, allowing the McSwaneys to manage their consulting business while watching deer graze.

The McSwaneys entrusted Gillette with choosing nearly every detail, down to the home’s signature stationery. "In terms of furniture, I wanted a mixture of antiques and newer pieces to give an evolved feel," the designer says. While the master bedroom is dominated by a four-poster and a pair of historic portraits, it also features a 1940s desk and a Perspex-and-glass cocktail table. With vast windows and a ceiling almost 16 feet high, the space has a wonderful airiness, enhanced by the light-blue and white hues Gillette used on the walls and upholstery.

This color combination is echoed on the top-floor landing, where a corner fireplace has been made into a shrine to ceramics, with antique delft tiles for the surround and 17th- and 18th-century blue-and-white china arranged on the tiered mantel. By contrast, the adjoining guest room is a marriage of light green, pink, and white, with bright splashes of color—among them a Thomas Gainsborough painting of a lady in red, given by John to Christine in lieu of a ruby for their 40th wedding anniversary.

Part of Gillette’s achievement is the element of coziness he has injected into even the largest spaces. But should the McSwaneys want a break from soaring ceilings and elaborate moldings, they can always retreat to the relaxed lower-level sitting room and kitchen. The latter’s traditional components—Spode china, an Aga range—blend happily with state-of-the-art appliances and lighting.

"The biggest challenge with a building like this," says Gillette, "is to retain the historical importance and preserve the fabric, yet make it a 21st-century home. I think this is a good example of how, with trust between client and designer, that can work." And what would the Finches think? One can only imagine they’d feel right at home.

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